Sites that post mug shots humiliate people and damage their career prospects — and engage in a form of blackmail by demanding people pay to take them down. Google, MasterCard and others are starting to respond.

MasterCard and mFoundry are poised to help banks launch potentially hundreds of NFC-based mobile wallets with a new partnership that will allow banks that use mFoundry for mobile banking apps to add support for contactless PayPass payments, turning those mobile banking apps into digital wallets.

MasterCard showed off a handful of projects Thursday that highlighted how it can leverage mobile phones to encourage shopping using a variety of technologies, from QR codes and NFC to audio signals and also motion control. The technology could be out on the market in months.

Google launched its big push into mobile payments with the introduction of a new payment platform called Google Wallet based NFC technology. The company said it will pair contactless payments with Google Offers to help retailers and merchants strengthen their ties to consumers.

Making wireless payments using near field communications just became a little easier for customers of Carta Worldwide, a global payment solutions provider that is the first company to integrate with MasterCard’s Mobile Over-the-Air Provisioning Service. Could NFC payments arrive sooner rather than later as a result?

On a panel of mobile payments providers at GigaOM’s Mobilize 2010, everyone was happy to agree that mobile payments are finally getting their day in the sun due to the growth of smartphones, mobile application platforms, and the sheer market size of 5 billion phones.

MasterCard has launched its MoneySend service on the BlackBerry, taking aim at PayPal in the growing mobile payment business. MoneySend is a virtual prepaid credit card that customers can link with existing bank accounts and credit cards to send and receive personal payments on the BlackBerry.

MasterCard today announced it has agreed to acquire DataCash, a European payment service provider, for $520 million in a transaction expected to close by this October. The deal is expected to boost MasterCard’s services in Europe, but more importantly, will bring additional mobile and e-commerce products.

Customer satisfaction with the top 40 U.S. online retailers during the holiday season was higher than it ever has been before, according to a newly released survey. Amazon set a new high on ForeSee’s index, scoring 87 of 100, with Netflix one point behind.